Rental cars just got a serious upgrade, and it’s a holiday gamechanger
We’ve all been there. You arrive at the airport, you’ve already booked and paid for your rental car, yet somehow the person behind the desk bangs on the keyboard for long enough that you start to wonder if they’re just pressing random keys to torture you, when you just want your car.
Then, after all that waiting around, you’re handed the keys to a generic hatchback that looks exactly like every other rental car in the car park.
On a recent road trip to Tassie, we decided we were gonna skip that painful process and test the new kids on the block, Turo.
And yeah, won’t be going back to the old ways ever again.
Advert
It’s so easy. Think of it in much the same way you book an Airbnb. All you have to do is jump on the website, create a profile and then pick from a huge selection of cars on a map. You can choose something that suits your functional needs, but you can also pick a car that actually feels like part of your holiday.
And this is where things get interesting. Instead of choosing between a compact, economy or whatever category the rental company has decided you need, Turo lets you choose the exact car you want. So, if you’ve always fancied driving a Mustang around Tasmania, you can actually do that, and depending on the car you choose, it can work out around the same price as a traditional rental, or even less.
For us, that meant a Mustang.
Yes, we said Mustang.
Our hosts delivered it straight to the airport, handed us the keys and off we went, while some poor lad was still standing in line for what we assume was a generic hatchback they hated. You can also choose how and where you collect your car, with Turo hosts able to offer delivery to places including airports, hotels and even your front door.
When it comes to a road trip, nothing beats Tassie. Yeah, it’s beautiful and all, but what never gets spoken about is how nice and close everything is!?
For us mainlanders, we don’t just plan the next town we’re stopping at, we have to think about our piss breaks in between, or the dodgy feed we’re gonna have at a freeway rest stop. The towns in Tassie are so close that they don’t even have those things.
Instead, we leisurely cruised from beautiful town to beautiful town. We swapped the servo pie for one at the famous Ross Bakery, and not once did we have to use a toilet that didn’t have a flush.
We started in Launceston, staying at Peppers Seaport, a beautiful hotel built from converted heritage grain silos. The amazing thing about staying there is there’s no need at all to leave the hotel for some of the best food you could eat. We ran into the manager, Paul, who told us how much Tasmanians take pride in how fresh their produce is. And it SHOWS. The words “best meal I’ve eaten in my life” were thrown around a bit.
The next day, we just cruised down to Hobart, taking the Mustang over beautiful convict bridges and through towns that would have you swearing you were in Europe, not Australia.
Tassie really is another world, and the Mustang absolutely belonged in it. There’s something about being behind the wheel of a car you actually want to drive that makes the kilometres between destinations feel like part of the holiday, rather than simply the annoying bit you have to get through to reach the next hotel.
Once we got to Hobart, we checked into the luxurious Mövenpick Hobart just in time for chocolate hour, which is as good as it sounds. Free delicious desserts for all the hotel guests, and I assume a few people off the street impersonating as guests.
And once again, the feed was out of this world. Glen Tilly heads up a modern Italian restaurant, Tessoro. Now imagine Italian food made with Tassie produce, and you don’t even have to leave the hotel? Which is a pretty big perk in Tasmanian winter.
We eventually took the Mustang out for another spin, driving through forests, along stunning waterways, where the thing purred and took the turns like a champ. For the first time, we stood at the edge of the earth, looking out to the ocean with nothing but Antarctica on the other side.
We took a quick pit stop at Bangor Winery for a feed and one, because we were driving, drink. It sits on a property owned by the Dunbabin family since the 1800s. If you go there, ask for the history lesson, you won’t regret it.
Finally, it was time to take our precious Mustang back to its rightful owner. Our hosts met us at the airport, we handed them the keys and headed to check-in, which made the whole process feel considerably less painful than the traditional rental experience.
You’re probably wondering if the airport hits different in the land of fresh food? Nah, it doesn’t. Sorry. We were back in servo land.
But the trip did make one thing pretty clear — your rental car doesn’t have to be the boring bit of your holiday. If you’re going to spend the money on a car anyway, why not pick one you actually want to drive?
With Turo, you can choose from a huge range of cars and search for the exact make and model you want, rather than being handed whatever happens to be available in the category you booked. You can even filter for things like engine type, number of seats and extras, depending on what you need for the trip.
So if you’re planning a road trip, or you want to impress a date with a car that you technically don’t own, jump onto Turo, sign up, pick a car that fits who you are and what you want, and enjoy the drive.
The LADbible Team